The Way That You Move [Rock]

[grn]

I need some fresh ears on this - I'm having a really difficult time mixing this song and I'd really appreciate any criticism at all.

 

[Bruthish]

I think its pretty cool. Really cool main guitar tone. Song is structured well. My only crit is that the lead vocal is too far back, and the female vocal overpowers the male. Good job man

 

[HeavyMusic3000]

AWESOME!!!!! Great song, IMHO. Love the tones. Listened on decent sounding earbuds and I thought the mix sounded very good. The only possible thing I would suggest is that the lead guitar tone is a tad shrill beyond what you may have been trying to achieve stylistically.

Wonderful song. Super refreshing. Is there any way that you could post a link to the WAV file version?

 

[grn]

My only crit is that the lead vocal is too far back, and the female vocal overpowers the male. Good job man

Do you mean too far back because of the female vocal? So if I were to turn the female vocal down a touch it would sound more balanced, or should I turn my vocal up as well? Or do you mean too far back as in there's a little too much verb on it?

The only possible thing I would suggest is that the lead guitar tone is a tad shrill beyond what you may have been trying to achieve stylistically.

Wonderful song. Super refreshing. Is there any way that you could post a link to the WAV file version?

Is it shrill in a painful, harsh and trebley way or just a mildly offensive rock 'n' roll sort of way? I EQ'd it heavily and it already seemed too warm to me, but I can try to cut some more offending frequencies. Send me a private message and I'll send you a WAV.

 

[HeavyMusic3000]

... Is it shrill in a painful, harsh and trebley way or just a mildly offensive rock 'n' roll sort of way? I EQ'd it heavily and it already seemed too warm to me, but I can try to cut some more offending frequencies...

Shrill in a fingernails on the chalkboard kind of way; that might make a person scrap a second listen, which would be a shame because the song is so awesome.

 

[Bruthish]

So before i was listening on a cheap computer system and the female vocals soared way above the male part. When listening on my monitor headphones they seem to be more in balance. As far as the levels, I tend to mix like you on this song. I like to sit my vocals snuggly in the mix and not on top of it. I get told to turn the up all the time and when I do I think it sounds like hell. I personally think your levels are ok, if you were to bump them up I would say only 1-2db. Now, they(both parts) do seem to have some clashing in the mid-low frequencies. They seem to be battling the guitars a little. Maybe a little higher roll-off on the low end to see if they pop a little more.

 

[Stratomaster]

Nice sound, cool riff. Nice big bass sound-drums sound kind of dull-a little more swish of the hi hats might make it rock harder? Snare is a bit buried...The vocals to me have an unnatural mid bump or something-maybe it's distortion?-they seem to be missing some air ? I'd be interested to know how you recorded/processed the vocals.I also think they could sit into the mix just a bit more-at least the male but these are just all trying to come up with something-this tune is excellent-very catchy nice arrangement good attitude-nice work!

 

[grn]

Thank you all for the feedback. I wrote all of it down and systematically went through the track to see if I could address every issue and I think the mix is much better. If you don't mind giving it another listen to make sure I haven't gone too far and made it too harsh I would greatly appreciate it. I don't care for my voice so I think that's why I had it lower in the mix, but I understand why the balance sounds better with it louder and clearer.

Here is the link:

This is what I did...

1. Shrill guitar solo
- Removed offending frequencies, applied haas effect to try and smooth it out
2. Lead vocal too quiet/too far back
- +1db to lead vocal
3. Higher roll off on vocal
- 150hz parametric cut
4. Drums dull - more swish to cymbals?
- Took de-essing off cymbals and bumped up volume by a few db
- Bumped up snare and kick volume, applied a bit more EQ to help with clarity
5. Vocals have unnatural mid bump? Needs air...
- 1.5db bump @ 8k, 1db cut at 350 hz

I'd be interested to know how you recorded/processed the vocals.

I used a large diaphragm condenser and recorded about 8 takes for each vocal then comped them down so each vocal was doubled. I applied EQ, compression, then more compression, then I think I fixed the pitch on 2 or 3 words. I used separate bus sends for reverb, distortion and parallel compression. On the doubled tracks I used some light phaser or flanger - I'm not really sure which it technically was - to smooth them out. I also used a sidechain compressor to duck the guitars when the vocals come in. Other than that it's just light panning and of course the performance.

 

[Stratomaster]

Nice-I notice the clarity in the vocals right away-they sound more natural and exciting. Everything else sounds great to me-if i had to nitpick i would say that cymbal bashing around the 2:30 mark is pretty annoying and distracts from the vocal, sounds like the same volume of hit from the big opening riff but with the music making way for the vocal that cymbal seems out of place a bit. The kick and snare sound better too imo-i still don't hear those trashy hats so well but like i say, these are just personal nitpicks, really great tune/mix!

 

[Bulls Hit]

I was originally going to comment that it seemed a bit bass-light but the new version has more weight to the kick and that seems to have done the trick. Good song, very original

 

[grn]

Thank you so much for your ears. The devil is in the details. Here is what I think will be the last major update to the mix and at this point I think it's more a matter of taste. Is this ready for mastering?

Nice-I notice the clarity in the vocals right away-they sound more natural and exciting. Everything else sounds great to me-if i had to nitpick i would say that cymbal bashing around the 2:30 mark is pretty annoying and distracts from the vocal, sounds like the same volume of hit from the big opening riff but with the music making way for the vocal that cymbal seems out of place a bit. The kick and snare sound better too imo-i still don't hear those trashy hats so well but like i say, these are just personal nitpicks, really great tune/mix!

I turned up the overheads a touch so hopefully the trashy hats can be heard, but I turned down the overheads on the bridge around the 2:30 mark so the cymbals were still there, but hopefully less annoying.

I was originally going to comment that it seemed a bit bass-light but the new version has more weight to the kick and that seems to have done the trick. Good song, very original

Just in case I bumped up 3.5khz on the kick to add some more smack and I turned up the snare a bit too after listening to a couple reference tracks.

 

[Robus]

Great song! Nice energetic performance. There's not much I would change. There's something a little bit pushy in the vocals in a few places, those midrange frequencies that make you wince when they are too loud.

 

[grn]

Great song! Nice energetic performance. There's not much I would change. There's something a little bit pushy in the vocals in a few places, those midrange frequencies that make you wince when they are too loud.

I definitely don't want anyone to wince. Do you think it's somewhere between 500 and 900 hz or more in the 1khz to 5khz range? The only other thing I could think of is the bus send with distortion. Or is it mainly when there are male AND female vocals? I didn't do much processing on the female vocals.

 

[Symph]

I couldn't hear the original mix, I'd assume it had alot of issues, it wouldn't download for me. I DID hear the "fixed" mix, holy crap!!! Like... I just... I can't imagine anything it would need. I can imagine if it was recorded in the 70's by like the guy who produced Steely Dan or something it would have more punch, but we aren't genius producers from the 70's, we're musicians, and this to my ears sounds better than most of the compressed stuff that makes the radio! It's just... it's perfect to me.

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the song, like... rarely do I hear stuff from my muscian friends that I think "Man I wanna put that on my ipod and play it at work" but this? It's stuck in my head, I'm geeked about it, I reeeeally dig your sound man, awesome song, awesome mix, just superb to my ears.

 

[grn]

I couldn't hear the original mix, I'd assume it had alot of issues, it wouldn't download for me. I DID hear the "fixed" mix, holy crap!!! Like... I just... I can't imagine anything it would need. I can imagine if it was recorded in the 70's by like the guy who produced Steely Dan or something it would have more punch, but we aren't genius producers from the 70's, we're musicians, and this to my ears sounds better than most of the compressed stuff that makes the radio! It's just... it's perfect to me.

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the song, like... rarely do I hear stuff from my muscian friends that I think "Man I wanna put that on my ipod and play it at work" but this? It's stuck in my head, I'm geeked about it, I reeeeally dig your sound man, awesome song, awesome mix, just superb to my ears.

Thank you for the kind words. I'm sure I'll be posting more from this project because I clearly need some help. And I just couldn't help myself because I have time to make sure it's as good as I can possibly make it, so why not? So I tried adjusting the vocals a bit to make them less harsh and I tried to add some more punch because why shouldn't we try to make it as good as Steely Dan? Hopefully I didn't ruin it haha - if anyone that isn't tired of this thread has a moment to listen to this last mix I hope that I am done with this. I hope I am, but if there are any criticisms I welcome them. Again, thank you all for your ears. I am learning a lot.

Here it is: